7 February 2022

Dear Everyone:

This past Friday, William Orchard spoke of spirals and stuckness in the course of his lecture, in ways that invited us (or at least me) to consider the grounds and conditions and course of desire. What holds us, and holds us up? The multiple valences of being held, held up – they resonate with the present, don’t they? Professor Orchard’s work was grounded in Wilfredo Santiago’s graphic novel In My Darkest Hour, which features among others a character moving in and out and to which Puerto Ricanness does and does not stick. Even as we hold onto that specificity, there is insight to be garnered as to living in and with stuckness not (only) as a problem state to be resolved…my long winded way of expressing gratitude for the work and time and effort he brought to us. It was terrific to be among all able to attend.

This Friday, the GC is closed. Tuesday/tomorrow, in fact, is a CUNY Friday; I hope the temporal play isn’t too disruptive for any of you!

Our next Friday Forum, 18 February, features a lecture by Professor Melissa Castillo-Planas – please keep an eye out for information and registration link! (you can always find both on our program webpage, of course.)

Also next week, please take note of this really excellent event, “Social Justice Work in Libraries,” organized by Madeleine Barnes and hosted by PublicsLab. It’s hard to imagine a more timely panel, what with ongoing and renewed efforts at curricular censorshop unfolding across the country and the planet. From cataloging to open access, from community engagement to advocacy, the intellectual and pedagogical and political life of librarians create and hold space for us. (What holds us, what holds/lifts us up?!) Information and registration link are here.

I’ll close this Monday’s message by conveying this expression of gratitude for teachers, posted to twitter by YoYo Ma – I think you can view/listen to it without a twitter account – it is a perfect piece of music, imho. Showing up with care, enacting learning as a communal process, remaining mindful of relations of power, creating space, holding each other, holding each other up…endless appreciation for all of it.

With thanks and abundant well wishes, as ever –

Kandice